The present disclosure relates generally to customer premises equipment, and more particularly, to methods, devices, and computer program products for supporting customer premises equipment situated at one or more remote locations.
Currently, communication services such as internet protocol television (IPTV), broadband Internet access, telephone service, satellite television, wireless communication, and cable television are provided to users through customer premises equipment. Examples of customer premises equipment include set top boxes (STBs), desktop computers, laptop computers, telephones, wireless devices, personal digital assistants, televisions, display screens, and media presentation devices. From time to time, a user may experience problems when accessing a communication service from customer premises equipment. These difficulties may be attributable to malfunctioning customer premises equipment, equipment that is not properly connected, a failure at the service provider, a communications network outage, various combinations thereof, and other factors not specifically enumerated.
If the user is unable to overcome a problem in accessing a communication service, he or she may call a representative at a customer service center to seek assistance. Oftentimes an inappropriate customer service center is contacted, whereupon the representative is unable to resolve the problem, necessitating a call to another customer service center. For example, a user may believe that he or she is experiencing a problem with malfunctioning hardware, so a call is placed to a service provider's hardware support center. After the user describes the problem to a customer service representative, the representative may determine that the problem is caused by corrupted software, and the call is transferred to a representative at the provider's software support center. Alternatively, the user may contact a representative at the service provider, though the problem is actually caused by a malfunctioning endpoint device purchased from a vendor having no relationship with the service provider.
More recently, a number of customer endpoint devices have been equipped with self-diagnostic software for categorizing problems by setting one or more designated numerical or alphanumeric trouble codes and directing customer service calls to a specified call center based upon the trouble code or codes that have been set. Although self-diagnostic endpoint devices represent an attempt to eliminate customer calls to inappropriate call centers, as a practical matter, these devices can be quite problematic. Oftentimes, problems are incorrectly categorized or telephone number information is outdated, resulting in calls to inappropriate customer service centers.
Directing customer service calls to inappropriate service centers is a serious problem. In a typical customer support scenario, as many as 40% of the calls placed by customers seeking assistance may be directed to an inappropriate service center. One practical consequence of call misdirection is that a steady stream of calls may be directed to a first business enterprise when, in fact, the problem is caused by hardware or software supported by a second business enterprise. Accordingly, the first business enterprise must staff its service centers with a sufficient number of personnel for diagnosing customer problems and also for dealing with a multiplicity of misdirected calls. The first business enterprise is called upon to bear the significant expense of servicing large numbers of customers whereas these costs should, in all fairness, be allocated to the second business enterprise. At the same time, users become frustrated after speaking with one representative after another. Directing a call to an inappropriate customer service center is inefficient, time consuming, and costly, resulting in unnecessary inconvenience for the user as well as the service provider.
There is a need in the art for improved methods and devices to facilitate customer service call direction for diagnosis and resolution of problems arising when a customer attempts to access a communication service from customer premises equipment.